Dawn of Legends
by John Sandman
Summary: The Tenno escape their home in search of refuge from losing their technology and eventually they meet the UNSC. But their hopes of peace are short-lived as centuries after their contact with Humans a union of races began exterminating their Human allies. The Tenno helped the UNSC advance and now the Tenno must not only protect Humans, but themselves as well. Obviously rated M.
1. Intro: Admiral Cutter and the 30th

**After doing a bit of analysis with a friend of mine about the UEG/UNSC, and after receiving some food for thought, as well as a stunning idea from inuboy86, it has come to my attention that the UNSC, for a 26th century power, is quite underpowered. I have done some research, and come to the conclusion that there are many ways the UNSC could reach its peak and this here is the way I have chosen it to be. Research has also led me to believe that the lowest possible GDP for UEG (UNSC's superior) would be around 1 sextillion UN credits. But, anyway, dive right into the first chapter of my grand crossover.  
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><p><strong>2160 to 2164, Solar System.<br>**Through a bloody conflict that raged across the Solar System and was consuming the lives of hundreds of thousands of Humans the United Nations Space Command was born from the United Nations. Headquartered in New York City, the UNSC was established as the UN's military, exploratory and scientific arm in all things related to outer space. Over time, the UN also gives birth to the Unified Earth Government, which slowly takes over its role as Humanity's primary government with an elected parliament, and a president that has limitless power in his or her hands.

In 2164, conflict across the Solar system ceases and the UNSC Army is left without a purpose. It was amassed for war, but now it faces extinction as it has no enemy to fight and nowhere to be properly garrisoned in such numbers.

April 23rd, 2291, Earth, Headquarters of the United Nations, New York City, United Republic of North America.

''This day will live as the brightest moment in recorded Human history. On this day, on April 23rd, 2291, Humanity has finally unlocked the key to interstellar travel thanks to the brilliant minds of these two scientists...'' A speaker in the Headquarters of the UN spoke to the representatives of Earth's nations as well as colonies in the Solar system, with two scientists standing right beside him. ''... Tobias Fleming Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa.''

These two scientists stepped out in front of the crowd that immediately stood up and began applauding them. They solved overpopulation in the Solar system, allowing millions of people to enlist in colony establishment programs formed by the UEG.

''This Translight engine, the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, will allow us to reach distant stars and colonize habitable planets, as well as allow us to achieve our ages old desires – to answer our questions about the universe and to know if we are alone in it. As we speak, our largest starships are already being fitted with mass-produced versions of the slipspace drive. In just a few days, the first explorers will head to their new work sites, working tirelessly to spread the cause of Mankind to distant worlds.''

Tobias Fleming Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa were awarded Nobel Peace Prizes for what they did in unlocking the key to escaping Humanity's birth system. Their contribution eventually led to the UEG locating roughly 800 colonies for colonization. Precisely ninety nine years later, a quarter of the potential colonies are colonized.

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><p><strong>January 9<strong>**th****, 2362, Epsilon Eridani system.**  
>The UEG colony ship <em>Odyssey<em> had been deployed to the Epsilon Eridani system five days earlier, eight days after being sent out from dry docks. Upon arrival in the system, the ship that was filled with military and colonial gear had detected an unusual amount of signals right behind the primary potential colony's moon that they happened to name Turul. The _Odyssey _applied a course correction to explore this anomaly first, only to find lots and lots of weird ships. The _Odyssey_ was not given any directives about picking up unknown stuff, so it had to ignore these pods and head down to the surface of the planet that was now known as Reach, however, before leaving, it dropped a slipbeacon for future missions to come and begin their exploration.

Shortly after the ship landed on the planet's surface, the hundreds of shuttles in orbit came to life while the workers and military units on the surface began unloading supplies from the ship that would be stripped apart later on to form a basis for a UNSC Army garrison. The _Odyssey,_ however, gave off a signal about unidentified objects inbound and the Marines and Army units assumed poorly-made defensive positions.

What they saw was about ten weird spacecraft landing about a hundred meters in front of their position with ten Humanoid beings jumping out of them as those spacecraft were hovering above the ground. The beings looked as if they were wearing a full body-suit without a visor, at least, that's how it looked through a Marine's sniper rifle scope. It didn't take long for these beings to reach the hastily-made fortifications with their hands in the air, meaning that either they give up, or they want to let these Marines and Army Infantry know that they're not trying to be hostile.

They were about two meters away from the closest Marine that was outfitted with a rifle that resembled that of the M16A4 from the 21st century. The figure in front of the Marines seemed to be the least decorated, with a bright gray combat skin or suit. This same figure reached for its helmet and slowly pulled it upwards, removing it from its head, revealing the face of a Human male. Or at least the Marines thought that it was a Human male. After a moment of awe from the Marines, one of them stood up and lowered his assault rifle.

''You… you're Human?'' He asked as he slowly made his way up to them, to talk. To be the voice of all of these shocked Marines. The figure nodded in return to the question, but it seemed like it couldn't speak as the Marine noticed that it opened its mouth slightly and then closed it again.

''Can you speak? English, Spanish? Any language?'' The same Marine asked, still looking at the figure directly in front of him. He received another nod in return and this time the figure managed to let out a sound and then started coughing as if he had caught a cold.

He coughed for a long while and when the Marine tried to come closer to help, he rejected help by waving his arm at him. After a brief moment, the figure finally stopped coughing and straightened out. When he spoke his voice sounded like the average male's voice.

''Good day, Humans.''

''You called us Human, but aren't you a Human, too?'' Another Marine said as he placed his rifle on his back, in safety mode.

''We were. Once. Now we are Tenno. We are different, because we've seen things that many cannot know, because we've felt these things.''

''Uh… what do you want from _us_?'' The first Marine asked. Both of these Marines were fresh out of Officer Candidate School and they were exercising their negotiation skills right now. The answer they got, however, was most surprising.

''Shelter.''

Weeks later, after the _Odyssey _crew had encountered these Tenno, these strange warriors, were picked up by another exploration ship – the _Odyssey's _sister ship called the _Daedalus_. The _Daedalus_ left the recently-explored Reach and flew for the Sol system. Unfortunately for these Tenno, they had to leave their ships behind, parked on Reach's moon – Turul – so that they could fit inside the ship and reach the Human capital – Earth, sometimes also referred to as Terra. When the Tenno learned that the Humans have elections, elected governments and an overall democratic paradise, they understood that they can feel relieved and safe.

Upon arrival, the highest ranking Tenno were escorted to the Headquarters of the United Nations and the Unified Earth Government in New York City. There, they pleaded with the President of the UEG and the Secretary-General of the United Nations to accept them under their protection so that the Tenno can keep their technologies in safe hands.

The Tenno had gathered all of their own technologies, destroyed their Dojos and Relays – Tenno space stations – rallied any and all supporters and used Orokin technologies to punch a hole in the fabric of the universe itself that would take them into a new universe where they could hopefully find allies. Why did the Tenno escape? The Grand Master of the Tenno, an unnamed figure dressed in a white cloak with a mask covering his face, explained that they were running from the Grineer Empire, which had control of their Origin system – known to the UNSC as the Sol system – the Corpus, a corporation of greedy workers, trying to study their Warframes and apply them to rule over the system and finally – the Infested. An infection, a plague that has been harassing everyone it comes in contact with and turns the dead into its own soldiers by horribly mutating them at first.

The Tenno explained that the Orokin were an ancient civilization that ruled over the Origin system. They were technologically advanced and could manipulate an area of space called 'the Void'.

The President of the UEG, a native of Kenya, who was renowned for his wisdom and competence in all affairs, had been thinking carefully about this. These Tenno are unknown to them, it's like a First Contact scenario, only with modified Human beings and, despite being ages ahead in terms of technology, they were seeking the UEG's help. While the President was still considering options, the Secretary-General had already reached his decision.

He thought that it's best to settle these Tenno somewhere close to Earth, where they can be protected and they can protect the Human homeworld. Thinking that Humanity could profit by forming a mutual development agreement and many more agreements, the President gave his approval as well. Though there was one problem. For their plan to work, they had to get a blessing from the Senate of the Unified Earth Government which, as of now, had a hundred Senators, each representing his or her respective colony, or soon-to-be-made colony.

It took roughly six years, two presidents and three Senates, to reach the final decision, but in 2368, the Tenno were settled on the Dark Side of the Moon. Humans and Tenno had built a grand city together, to allow comfort for several thousand surviving Tenno and their Warframes, as well as their shuttles that were transported from the Epsilon Eridani system. The Tenno had built a relatively small city, in terms of height, however, the temple of the High Council was the largest. Being roughly ten stories high with four guard towers and a single, central building it was one of the most aesthetically pleasing buildings found in the Solar system. Upon closer inspection, many Humans believed that these Tenno seem to be somewhat related to Japanese Samurai culture, at least judging by the style of their buildings. Their buildings were built out of metal, not wood. It wasn't heavy like steel, but it was engineered on a nano-molecular scale and was extremely lightweight, but also extremely durable. By 2371, the Senate along with the High Council had reached a decision to sign numerous mutually beneficial contracts. An alliance, friendship, mutual development, trade, mutual exploration.

From the late 24th century to the middle of the 25th century, the UEG and the Tenno were sharing technologies, improving each other's economies and unlocking new ways of rapidly colonizing worlds and terraforming them. The UEG had given the UNSC scientific, exploratory and military power – all of it – so that the UEG itself could focus more on economy, colonial matters and politics. Colonial matters were soon given over to the Colonial Administration Authority and the UEG had far less of a workload.

The Tenno had been given a single seat in the UNSC High Command. A single Warlord was given the honor of sitting in there, among the most respected and revered Admirals and Generals of the UNSC. They also earned a spot in the UNSC Security Council where the same Warlord was elected.

A Warlord, for the Tenno, was a prestigious and a high rank within a clan – it was a clan leader. The Tenno had brought with themselves multiple clans that were all under a single Alliance that they merely called the Tenno, in their own name.

Over the course of a half a century, the Tenno had helped the UNSC research improved propulsion, advance their material science by centuries, enhance detection systems, significantly boost weaponry and defensive equipment and do many more things.

Propulsion was improved by analyzing Tenno shuttles and how they move through space at incredible speeds without using a giant nuclear station. By analyzing the science behind it and performing experiments, the UNSC Engineering Corps and the UNSC Test and Evaluation Corps had reached a breakthrough in space propulsion. By using advanced deuterium fusion reactors, they could generate speeds of up to several hundred kilometers per second at full propulsion. Some results even showed several thousand kilometers per second. This breakthrough benefitted even the Tenno, as it improved the overall speed of their small shuttles – the Lisets.

Material science – through joint scientific projects and experiments filled with blood and sweat, the Engineering Corps managed to build a plate of the most advanced armor. A plate they called Titanium-AM battleplate. Yes, the UNSC had Titanium-A developed before the joint projects began, and the Titanium-A battleplate is still renowned, even by the Tenno, as being very protective, however, the difference between the Titanium-A battleplate and the AM battleplate is significant. The 'M' stood for Mixed, as in, mixed materials used in production.

The standard A battleplate uses primarily molecularly engineered Titanium, however, the AM battleplate is made of nano-molecularly and artificially strengthened Titanium, Tungsten and introduces a breakthrough in material science – Carbon nanotubes. The Carbon nanotubes were coated on the outer layers of a plate, with tungsten following up and then Titanium being the inner layer, providing the largest resistance to kinetic impacts while also being relatively safe from super-heated weaponry. Thanks to Tungsten and Carbon nanotubes, the melting point of the battleplate is nearly three times as high, while Titanium and the same Carbon nanotubes provide extreme resistance to any sort of kinetic impact. This discovery was immediately applied on the largest UNSC warships currently in service. The Tenno didn't see the need to rush the application of the Titanium-AM battleplate as they were happy with their own armor.

Detection systems received a minor boost as the UNSC could now build sensor stations all across their colonies. They could establish sensor networks that would scan the star system for targets, identify friends from foes and depict every asteroid as well as some that might be a danger to a colony.

Weaponry and defensive equipment received the most major boosts in terms of technology. Before that, the UNSC used chemical propellants on their weaponry and heavy, uncomfortable ceramic plates on plate carrier-type armor. After the Tenno had introduced them with railgun and coilgun technology, the UNSC immediately began analyzing every bit of it.

The Engineering Corps had separated the small, rapid-fire guns from the big, slow-firing weapons, namely, railguns from coilguns. What they came up with was an advanced type of weapon a railgun assault rifle. This assault rifle was capable of sending a bullet flying at hypersonic speed. And not just one bullet – hundreds per minute. Speed was increased without even sacrificing rate of fire and damage per shot was significantly higher. Development immediately started with the MA series assault rifles and the first one that came out was the MA37 Individual Combat Weapons System firing magnetized 7.62x51mm NATO FMJ-AP rounds. The resulting projectile speed was rated at Mach 6 – 2041 meters per second. This rifle was immediately issued to all military branches of the UNSC, however, it also had a non-railgun version issued specifically for civilian use at their own will. Railgun version use was banned for all civilians and the usage of FMJ-AP rounds was also strictly forbidden as it could cause significant harm. Coilguns were developed to be fitted on massive warships as their primary armament, also known as the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon. They could fire a 10 meter slug at a velocity of over 10,000 kilometers per second.

In terms of defenses, the UNSC Engineering Corps had analyzed what the Tenno used as their primary line of protection – energy shields. Basing their knowledge that the UNSC had gained from the European Space Agency's tests in the 21st century in terms of shields and then adding to that information with Tenno knowledge, the UNSC managed to create portable shielding for its own special forces. Within additional twenty years, starship-grade shielding was developed.

Different tanks were developed. Using 21st century tank designs, like, the FV 4034 Challenger 2 or the M1 Abrams, two main battle tanks were developed, incorporating advanced technologies into them like coilguns, advanced battleplates and an advanced power generation system as well as a bunch of other things.

The FV 4034 Challenger 2 was renamed as the M251 Challenger and its 120mm rifled cannon was swapped out for a 120mm railgun. Its coaxial 7.62mm machine gun was swapped out for a rapid-fire, triple barrel 12.7mm machine gun that's perfect for firing down infantry and vehicles equally. Its Burlington armor was reduced in size to decrease mass, and then reinforced with the Titanium-AM battleplate. Electronics replaced completely with something new and more efficient, the number of crewmembers down to just two thanks to these new electronics and an autoloader.

The M1 Abrams received similar armor and electronics remakes, however it featured a wider remake of its primary and secondary armament. The primary cannon was swapped out for a 120mm coilgun which was considered a harder hitter than the 120mm railgun with better range. The 7.62mm coaxial was swapped out for the same coaxial that the M251 Challenger received. Two top turrets were added as well – one was a 20mm rapid-fire railgun capable of reaching a fire rate of well over 1000 rounds per minute. The other was a missile launcher, capable of firing a single High Explosive missile at a time with target acquisition abilities. The M1 Abrams was renamed into the M252 Centurion.

A third tank was developed, one that was used in higher numbers and served as a Heavy Armored Fighting Vehicle, an H/AFV. It was called the M808 Main Battle Tank, nicknamed the Scorpion due to its design. It was a lighter tank, made primarily out of the Titanium-AM battleplate in thin layers and incorporating advanced electronic technologies to allow it to be controlled by a single operator. It sported a 90mm railgun that primarily fired HEAT shells. It sported one 12.7mm coaxial machine gun and another passenger version. Beyond that, it was primarily used in larger numbers than its more powerful M251 and M252 cousins, but in turn it sacrificed firepower, armor and overall effectiveness.

The infantry was vastly improved, carrying thick, but light Titanium armor into battle. They wore dark green armor with a black, thin undersuit, making the armor vacuum rated, with fully sealed helmets having a small visor for the HUD and the ability to perform visual scans.

Virtually all chemically-propelled weapons were completely swapped out for railgun weapons.

Around 2511, a soldier enhancement program was revived from the 21st century, from the 23rd and the late 25th.

It was termed as the SPARTAN Program - Special Proficiency Assault Reconnaissance Tactics, Augmented Non-conventional.

Many augmentation types were invented, thousands of variations for each and different side effects for each variation. Most of these side effects were extremely lethal and that scared Tenno and UNSC scientists. Tenno weren't sure of their own augmentations, however, after they analyzed their own selves and gave the data to the UNSC, scientists like Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey managed to find cures for each of these side effects by cloning living Human beings of all blood types and genetic structures. One by one, these clones were experimented upon, in secret of course, and the perfect augmentations were soon discovered. Around 2516, the first batch of Human children were kidnapped for the harshest imaginable training and augmentation. When they hit 14, after years of training, they were augmented. The results of these augmentations were truly stunning – before augmentation, these 14-year-old kids outperformed Olympic athletes and after it, they could outperform animals in terms of sheer strength, speed, durability, reflexes and so on.

To be more precise, these SPARTANs became like the Tenno – a force of soldiers bred for war, praying for war, delivering war. The first batch consisted of roughly ten thousand, they all survived augmentations and the First Spartan Division was formed. Tenno even took part in the formation of the SPARTAN Program, as they provided rigorous combat training plans to UNSC Drill Instructors and Drill Sergeants.

Parallel to the SPARTAN program, there was the MJOLNIR program. The MJOLNIR program was a purely UNSC development with the idea of creating the ultimate suit of armor meant to not only protect the operator, but enhance his or her abilities several times. Three models had failed, but the fourth model was a perfect success. The MJOLNIR MARK IV incorporated thick Titanium-AM plating, making it weigh quite a bit, but it was also powered with a mini fusion reactor that could turn it into a flying machine of total destruction. It also incorporated several powered abilities, making the SPARTAN even more fearsome in close combat.

Around the start of 2525, contact was established with a new race. More specifically, a union of alien races calling itself the Covenant Empire. The Covenant had shown minor aggression against Human freighters heading for Harvest, and due to misunderstanding caused by a little Unggoy killing a Human Marine due to fear, and due to growing racism against Humans within the Covenant, the Human-Covenant War sparked. At first, the Tenno were reluctant to enter citing that it's the Human fight, not theirs, but later on the Tenno elders reminded the Tenno of their own Humanity, how they were once purely Human and still have the element of a Human inside and outside of them. These speeches caused the Tenno to stand up in limited numbers and offer help to the UNSC all across the colonies.

After the start of the War, Humanity quickly found itself outgunned with mainstream equipment being outdated and pretty much useless. Soon after, the MA series assault rifles were adopted and the MA37 railgun assault rifles were issued to absolutely all branches of the UNSC with the BR55 railgun battle rifle following closely up.

The UNSC Navy took under its care every shipyard in the UEG, every shipbuilding corporation under its flag, and began amassing the largest fleets Humanity has ever seen. In six years, around 2531, Humanity had amassed about two hundred thousand heavily armed and armored warships ranging from light frigates to heavy, bulky carriers and several supercarriers. The numbers weren't enough as the Covenant seemed to have an equal setting, so, to help in protection, the UNSC started building orbital defense platforms across every key star system, and instead of spreading fleets wide across the colonies, they concentrated them in star sectors, placing them in interstellar space where they could react to invasions on nearby planets with greater force.

For five years, since 2526, Harvest was besieged by forces of the UNSC Navy and the Marine Corps fighting against the Covenant Navy and Army in space and on the ground. Victory and loss pushing at each other for both sides. By 2531, most of Harvest was reduced to a pile of glass thanks to the Covenant's aggressiveness, however the Covenant had explored the poles and found the possible key to the destruction of Humanity. After finding out about this, Captain James Gregory Cutter and the crew of the Spirit of Fire began following the Covenant at every step of the way they made to find this Human destruction arsenal. Upon locating it, they sacrificed their own wings to destroy an entire Shield World, buying Humanity much needed time to keep arming itself while the Covenant kept invading.

The Spirit of Fire was drifting in interstellar space for several months until a Tenno dropship found it floating without an FTL drive. This Tenno ship signaled the UNSC to come and pick their ship up, which they did, bringing the Spirit of Fire over to Mars for repairs and refits.

After reading his report, Captain Cutter had been summoned by UNSC HIGHCOM on Orbital Defense Platform Cairo, ODA-142, to receive a promotion and commendation for his selfless sacrifice in order to save Humanity and a lot of precious lives. He had received the Medal of Honor as well as a promotion to Vice Admiral and given command of the recently assembled and inexperienced Thirtieth Fleet (30th Fleet).

The UNSC Spirit of Fire underwent some major refits – it was turned into a battlecruiser/carrier hybrid ship, capable of carrying large amounts of fighters into battle as well as provide superior firepower on the field of battle. It had two MAC guns, about two hundred 50mm dual-barrel railgun point defense guns, four hundred Archer missile pods, 40 Deck Guns, 80 ATAF missile turrets and several HAVOK nuclear warheads. It soon became a demonstrator of starship technology, carrying some of the heaviest support firepower into battle.

The Thirtieth Fleet was made up of two hundred fresh, clean ships with young crews manning them. Consisting largely of Marathon-class heavy cruisers and Paris-class heavy frigates as well as Midlothian-class destroyers, it was a typical UNSC fleet in terms of loadout, but not in terms of motivation. Many of the newcomers were eager to fight the Covenant and punch them in the face with these starship technologies. Their moment of fame came pretty soon when Arcadia was hit once again, in 2532. The fleet was immediately deployed there, arriving only to face a Covenant invasion force of fifty ships.

The Covenant were quickly repelled and a decision from Arcadia CENTCOM came to evacuate the colony and move the citizens further inwards to the Inner colonies. Within a month, the Thirtieth Fleet helped abandon Arcadia entirely and they were left without a job for a few months yet again. In 2532, on September 19th, a Tenno colony was invaded in the Traia system. They owned Traia IV due to its abundance of all sorts of materials and it was widely populated, with several hundred thousand Tenno living a peaceful life without their power suits - Warframes.

The Covenant hit them hard, glassing half of the planet in the first few hours of the battle, however, the Tenno Defense Force, with the help of the Thirtieth Fleet and the decisive strategies applied by Vice Admiral Cutter really managed to annihilate a numerically superior foe invading a UNSC-allied colony.

Cutter was beginning to receive fame for using irregular tactics on the field – the UNSC relied on slug fests of pure firepower demonstration while Cutter played it smart. Cutter analyzed the weak spots of Covenant warships and ordered most of his ships in a formation where they are always ready to hit the afterburner and fly around the flanks where they could easily bombard the Covenant fleet while it's preoccupied with the weaker line of defense in front of them.

The space battle was an overwhelming UNSC victory because Cutter was using a tactic that wasn't used for a long time in space – Blitzkrieg or Lightning War. The tactic involved the smaller ships rushing between the Covenant ship lines and leaving nuclear mines to detonate in the middle of an enemy fleet, leaving the fleet vulnerable to the heavier vessels that came up after that with lower speed but with superior firepower. The frigates that ran past the fleet turned around and fired on the flanks of the enemy fleet as well. The combined firepower on unshielded Covenant ships allowed the UNSC to quickly eliminate the Covenant invasion fleet.

The ground battle was also a part of the Battle of Traia IV. Cutter had personally landed on the ground to oversee the liberation of the colony from Covenant invaders. The battle lasted for several days because the Covenant were well entrenched and the UNSC had to use orbital strikes sometimes and damage the surface of several regions of the planet severely. The Tenno weren't fond of orbital strikes on their own colonies, but they understood that there was no other way since even conventional airstrikes couldn't get the Covenant out of their bunkers and fortifications.

Several days after the battle was over, Cutter visited the surface of the planet once more and there he met a young little Tenno girl, about one year old, crawling on the grass. After looking around to see if her parents are anywhere to be seen, he noticed this part of the planet's infrastructure is smoking from destruction – the Covenant had managed to hit this part hard and Cutter remembered reading reports of several hundred Tenno being killed in the first strike. After performing his observation, Cutter looked at the little girl, picked her up in his hands and stared into her eyes. She looked much like an ordinary Human save for the fact that she had dark red eyes with somewhat visible blood vessels heading towards the center. Cutter knew she couldn't talk, and he knew that it would probably be a better idea to deliver this one-year-old to the Sol system, to the home of the Tenno on the Moon.

Cutter was also famed for having an eye for talent, even when looking at young kids. When looking at this young Tenno girl, he could see great talent in her as a soldier and an officer, so his first idea was to send her to a Tenno warrior monastery or however they call it, and then have her apply into the UNSC Navy Officer Candidate School. Or sign up in the UNSC Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps – a military-type high school placed on several planets in the Sol system, but for now, it was best to just deliver her to the Moon.

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><p><strong>August 3<strong>**rd****, 2532, Lunar Tenno Headquarters.  
><strong>Admiral James Gregory Cutter had arrived in his flagship – the UNSC Spirit of Fire – to the Moon with a special delivery to the Tenno warriors. He had met the Grand Master and given the young girl over to his care after much talk and deciding her future, with the ability of letting her choose when she hits adolescence, of course. He had a lot of talking with the Grand Master, namely about her training.

The Grand Master described her very specifically. This young Tenno he found, who the Master called Anaya, was described as a marksman. Apparently, right after birth, Tenno develop traits of their future selves. Anaya's unusual eyes made her the first marksman in several centuries to be seen, a marksman that must be worthy to wear the Mesa-class Warframe. Then, the Grand Master jumped into details about her training. After Anaya hits around six years of age, she will be put into rigorous training with reaction timing, rapid muscular movements and advanced reflexes and processing capabilities and after all that, she would receive augmentations made using the Void's energy that would let her put on her Warframe and adopt the name of Mesa – the gunfighter.

From 2532 to 2546, the Thirtieth Fleet, with Admiral Cutter at its head, was fighting battle after battle. Victory and loss exchanging each other in some years, or loss taking over some years almost completely, while victory occupying the next years and raising the overall morale of the brave men and women of the fleet. At one point, they even prevented the death of newly-promoted Fleet Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole, letting him assume command of the Outer Colony Theater and become High Commander of UNSC Forces Abroad. This title was awarded to those who would willingly leave the safe borders of UNSC space to strike hard at the enemy's own home. Under Admiral Cole and Admiral Cutter, the Thirtieth Fleet and Battlegroup India were continuously making strikes against nearby and recently discovered Covenant industry worlds, hampering their progress and gradually slowing down their advance to a near halt, turning their Blitz into a crawl.

After several successful attacks, the Thirtieth Fleet was repurposed by HIGHCOM to respond to incoming attacks on Outer Colonies again. That, and in 2546 the fleet received fresh recruits to fill up its empty boots and seats.

2546 was also one of the bloodiest years in the fleet's entire history of constant warfare.

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><p><strong>Well, I'm not very good with non-character intro chapters that have no dialogue, but I hope you liked it. Also, a very special shout-out to <span>inuboy86<span> for giving me this idea of the Tenno and UNSC uniting. You can consider him as someone more than just an idea giver, you can consider him a co-owner of the idea for this fanfic.**

**_A HUGE shout-out to Canisa for helping me develop this story. Truly! Thanks A LOT Canisa. I hope you can involve yourself more whenever you have the free time._**

**Anyway, hope you liked it and do note this is an AU fic where the UNSC advances differently, more rapidly. Leave your thoughts, follow/fav, share and so on. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Meeting: Mesa and Sandman

**Well, here goes the second chapter. I had so much inspiration that I decided to write it right after the first one. Have a great time reading.**

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><p><strong>September 5th, 2546, UNSC Spirit of Fire's Main Hangar Bay.<br>**The crew of the Spirit of Fire was expecting a new batch of officers, Marines and ordinary crewmen to fill out their depleted ranks from years of battle. These battle-hardened, lead-chewing men and women remembered their own days when they were inexperienced, afraid, but motivated to kill and kill even more just to secure their own race's survival, and, of course, their ally's survival. They were eager to see the new recruits, to have them join their ranks. They have even heard of some Tenno signing up to join the Thirtieth Fleet, along with a Spartan company being sent to the fleet. Some of these recruits received brutal training in two professions – not just being officers of crewmen aboard ships, but also ground combat.

One of these dual training officers was Lieutenant John Sandman. Alongside of him was Lieutenant, Junior Grade Jeromy Scott Storm – his best friend from OCS. These two were inseparable in OCS and even after that. They signed up to be officers on the UNSC Spirit of Fire.

Waves upon waves of dropships arrived from several Phoenix-class transport ships that were transporting thousands of recruits. Admiral Cutter was eagerly awaiting a new bridge officer for himself while keeping in mind that he lost his previous one just because of the officer's inexperience. John Sandman and Jeromy Scott Storm both arrived in the first wave and, dressed in their Navy BDU's, they were immediately greeted by Admiral James Gregory Cutter and a few Marines.

''Welcome aboard the Spirit of Fire, Lieutenants.'' Cutter greeted the two, who were saluting immediately upon seeing him dressed in his own Navy BDU with numerous medals on his chest and the Vice Admiral's stripes on his shoulders, extending his hand for a handshake. John Sandman remembered reading that Admiral Cutter has well over forty six years of service within the Navy behind his belt making him a truly respectable man, but for someone who has forty six years of service, he looks like he hasn't aged at all for a man who turned sixty seven this year. Both of the young officers shook his hand.

''My name is James Gregory Cutter, Vice Admiral of the Thirtieth Fleet. Commanding officer.''

''Lieutenant John Sandman, at your service, Sir!'' John saluted again, and noticed Storm doing the same before speaking.

''Lieutenant, Junior Grade Jeromy Scott Storm, ready for duty, Sir!''

Cutter looked over the two officers, then saluted right back to them. After he said 'At ease', they still didn't really go out of their military training and assumed an eased up position with their legs spread and hands placed behind their back while Cutter wanted a simple, non-formal conversation.

''Alright, so, I assume you've been told what you'll be doing?'' Cutter looked in the eyes of both of these young officers.

''Sir, I've been told to be your executive officer.'' Sandman surprised Cutter. He thought he would have to search for an XO, but instead there was one right here, trained and ready for duty.

''I've been told that I'll be part of the Ghost squadron, Sir.'' Storm announced, proudly, revealing his wish to fly fighters.

Cutter waved at one of the fighter pilots to come on over, and then told him that he has a fresh pilot in his ranks, thus, the pilot told Storm to follow immediately. Those two left the hangar soon and went for the fighter bay.

''Well, Lieutenant, what do you know about being the second-in-command of a flagship?'' Cutter turned around and gestured for Sandman to follow him. He was leading him to the bridge.

''Well, I must organize the crew, make sure they're always working at peak efficiency and overall be the voice of the crew.''

''Are you aware of my previous XO's death?'' Cutter looked at the people walking past him, all of these ordinary crewmen and Marines just saluting him as he walked by.

''Sir, I've read only that he was trying to fight off Covenant boarding parties when clearly he didn't have the skills with a gun.''

''Well, that's pretty much it. He wasn't really good at leading Marines, so he got himself and his platoon killed in a narrow hallway. Good thing we had three SPARTANs aboard at the time, otherwise we would've been trapped and killed.'' Cutter walked up to a tram system and activated it. While waiting for the tram, he turned around to look at the Lieutenant who was easily around his height.

''Don't worry, Admiral, I know how to fight with boots and guns.'' After what Sandman said, Cutter merely nodded and heard the tram arrive. He turned around and entered it along with the Lieutenant and pressed a button that read 'bridge'. The tram responded right after and began moving towards the bridge, quickly crossing several decks until finally arriving next to the bridge. The two left the tram and went for the bridge.

Upon entering, Sandman could see the bridge of this old warship looking more like a command center of an entire fleet rather than just one ship. It had a holotable in the middle, gunnery officers stationed around the sides along with navigations officers and communications officers were stationed at the back of the bridge while the Captain and his XO were always in the middle, planning the next moves and tactics.

Cutter was giving Sandman an introduction to the officers all around the bridge, showing around what do individual stations do and so on, and as well as showing him his place.

Oddly enough, Cutter was also reading his datapad with intelligence on a possible attack on a Human colony called 'Sargasso'. The intelligence was gathered by Tenno spies, Loki-class Warframes that could stay hidden for days using camouflage techniques that are still being applied to UNSC's Spartans. The intelligence turned out to be true, because the Spirit of Fire's long range communicators soon picked up a distress signal coming from a slipspace beacon placed in orbit of Sargasso which clearly held a message describing the brutal enemy invading their planet.

With a solid reason, Cutter organized the fleet right after the new hands were welcomed aboard and ordered everyone to make a synchronized slip to Sargasso, which would take them precisely two hours to get there. Cutter also set an optional objective of capturing a Covenant warship, though his bridge officers questioned that decision's possibility.

''For more than twenty years I have watched, read and heard of Human colonies being wiped out. In one year, a dozen were wiped out simultaneously. No longer!'' When giving a speech to his officers, he clutched his fist and held it by his side.

''Today, we will take the fight to a far more important Covenant world than some industrial outpost or a refueling station. We shall board one of their ships, decimate the entire crew, and hack into their navigation system, stealing their data and using it to locate every world that the Covenant known of. We will not surrender, we will not stand back.'' Cutter looked a bit angrier, unusual for him due to his usually calm and focused attitude.

''WE! WILL! FIGHT!'' Cutter shouted while raising his fist in the air at the same time as he said those words. A loud ''Hoorah!'' was heard from his bridge officer mouths, even from Lieutenant Sandman's, meaning that they agreed to his plan, no matter how suicidal it may be for the Marines. Sandman volunteered himself for the strike team.

''Sir, permission to lead a strike team aboard the ship of your choice?'' Cutter then proceeded to look at him, oddly and shook his head.

''Denied, Lieutenant. You're staying here. I don't want another dead executive officer.''

''Admiral!'' John tried to reason with Cutter, but the Admiral didn't change his answer either way and shook his head again.

''I said denied, Lieutenant, now get back to your post.''

John went back to the holotable, grunting and then resting on the edges of the holotable, staring down at it. Shortly after, he noticed the Spirit of Fire's AI – Serina – pop up. This Serina was the third reconstruction of the previous two Serina models that served on the Spirit of Fire. She kept the previous two model memories, at least partially, and personality and could live for additional seven years or until the point she reaches metastability. So far, the two previous attempts at Serina reaching metastability have failed, but the UNSC has high hopes that if Serina finally hits that phase, they can replicate it on all their AI's and extend their life span several times.

''Admiral, perhaps its best to let the cannon fodder transform into a real man? I don't remember you becoming experienced and famous just by sitting aside.'' Serina announced her presence with her dark humor, but with reasonable words.

''You really think it's worth sending a sixteen year old Lieutenant, who has only theoretically proven himself to actually become a Lieutenant at that young age, to be given a gun and boots and sent into battle?'' Cutter turned around to face Serina and then went for the holotable where he had set a fresh cup of dark coffee which he picked up and took a sip from. He then looked at Serina, who nodded and then looked at the Lieutenant who looked motivated again.

Cutter walked up, closer to the Lieutenant and placed his free hand on his shoulder.

''Stay behind your men, Lieutenant.'' He turned away with the hot coffee in his hand and approached the window in front to get a better view of what's happening in front. So far, they were entering slipspace.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant John Sandman ran for the upper armory where he could get his armor. Upon arrival, he was immediately given standard Marine combat gear – Titanium-Carbon Nanotube plates put on top of a vacuum-sealed undersuit along with a fully-sealed helmet with a bullet-proof visor. He chose a decent rifle for close to medium range combat - the BR55HB Service Rifle, also known as the Battle Rifle. Like all UNSC small-arms weapons, its projectiles were electromagnetically accelerated using rails, giving it significant firepower. He assumed command of First Platoon, 7th Company which was meant to hit a Covenant ship with three SPARTANs at their head as well as two recent Tenno additions – one called Ember and a Mesa. This was the first time the crew of the Spirit of Fire met Tenno in their skin-tight Warframes.

When everyone rallied in the main hangar and loaded in two separate D77-TC Pelican dropships they met one another for the first time. John pretty much understood his Marines, but the SPARTANs and Tenno were a whole different story. John met Jerome-092 and his teammates and subordinates – Douglas-042 and Alice-130. These three were the first phase of the SPARTAN program, along with 297 others. They were not very talkative, they only knew how to answer him with their formal attitudes that were drilled into their minds by Humanity's best Drill Sergeants and Drill Instructors. The Tenno, on the other hand, enjoyed a bit of talking.

John walked up to the two Tenno females, and extended his hand for a handshake.

''Lieutenant John Sandman, UNSC Navy. I'm your commanding officer for this strike.'' He announced as his hand was waiting for an answer from both of them. The one called Ember was the first to extend her hand to meet his grip.

''Call me Ember, I'm a fire elemental Tenno.'' She removed her hand, letting her friend introduce herself.

''I'm Mesa, a gunslinger. I heard you were quite renowned in the Lunar Naval Academy.'' Mesa gladly shook Sandman's hand, and even a smile appeared under her helmet. Soon, she relaxed her grip and pulled her hand away, placing it on her hip.

''A pleasure to meet you. Have you been briefed on the operation at hand?'' John asked, only to see the Tenno shaking their heads in a negative response.

''Alright then. Well, Admiral Cutter wants us to board a Covenant warship and strike hard and fast, straight into the ship's command center so that we can let Serina's fragment inside and steal all their navigation data that they have. With that, we can turn the tables and hit far more significant colonies than the ones the Navy has been bombarding over the past few years.'' John smiled through his visor, which wasn't polarized yet. ''Also, Lieutenant Storm and two pilots from Ghost Squadron will be our fighter escort.''

Serina's voice interrupted the meeting of the strike force, announcing that the ships are about to leave slipspace dangerously close to Covenant lines and that the Marines need to load into their Pelicans. Several minutes later, the Thirtieth Fleet left slipspace in a blaze of glory. MAC's were fired, missiles were deployed and the empty space between the UNSC and the Covenant was filled with lead fired from 50mm point-defense railguns. The UNSC Spirit of Fire broke formation and rammed straight into a CCS-class battlecruiser that was closest to the fleet, letting the rest of the UNSC force surround it while the Spirit released two Pelicans and three Longsword fighters.

''First squad, you'll hit the lower hangar and secure their weaponry and shielding. Second squad is coming with me to hit the command center.'' Sandman gave objectives to his platoon, letting them know what to hit. The SPARTANs were loaded in with First squad, so they'd be hitting gunnery and shield centers while the Tenno were with the Second squad. It didn't take long for the Pelicans to cover those few hundred meters, and soon enough they landed in the badly damaged hangars. Both hangars were blown completely open and spaced, so there was no breathable atmosphere – only the vacuum of space and no gravity. After Sandman's Pelican touched down and magnetically attached itself to the floor, the Marines sealed their suits and activated their magnetic boots, attaching themselves to the floor.

''Alright Marines, you know the drill.'' John hopped out of the Pelican first and noticed one active door and one blocked door, both at opposite ends of the hangar. He then looked at the schematics of the ship stored inside his helmet's memory card and decided that it's shorter if they take the active door. He showed a hand signal, gesturing towards the lit up door and the Marines went for it immediately. They rallied up around the door, and prepared to breach and clear without explosives. Sandman went in first, despite Cutter's orders to stay in the back ranks. He raised his Battle Rifle, aiming it straight in front of him while Mesa and two other Marines followed him immediately, with the Marines keeping their MA37 rifles pointed at the sides and Mesa holding her odd sniper rifle in front, in the same way Sandman is looking. The hallway was spaced for a short while until every member of Second squad entered it and the doors behind them closed, pressurizing the room yet again.

''Keep watch on your motion sensors, those Elites love to use their cloaks.'' One of the Marines, a Staff Sergeant, announced. He was a bit experienced, five years older than Sandman, but he had tasted a lot of battles under Admiral Cutter's lead. This Marine was of African-American descent, born in San Francisco back on Earth. He loved to use an M45E Tactical Shotgun, especially inside ships.

John proceeded to lead the Marines through hallways that seemed like a maze, all colored purple-ish with control panels on crossroads. Luckily, the Covenant like to station their command centers pretty close to the center of the ship and their little journey didn't take an eternity across the ship. They arrived at the command center where they noticed quite a few Elites, Jackals and Grunts guarding and trying to operate it so that they can get a clean shot at the UNSC fleet that has passed the ship.

''Uh…'' John tried thinking of a plan of engagement, but he didn't have a good plan yet so he consulted the Marines. ''Any ideas on how to proceed, Marines?''

The African-American Staff Sergeant whispered his plan over to him.

''Sir, how about we split up and surround them to take them down more effectively with lesser casualties?''

John liked the Staff Sergeant's plan and nodded, giving his approval. The Staff Sergeant organized the Marines into small fireteams of four men each, leaving only Sandman and Mesa together as one undermanned fireteam. They were to sneak around to the other side of the command center, through the shadows, and luckily, Mesa knew a bit of stealth so she led the Lieutenant through.

While crawling through the poorly lit areas of the command center, the two engaged in quite a bit of chatter. John went first.

''So, Mesa… is that your real name?''

''No, it's the name of the Warframe class that I am wearing.''

''I see, Mesa-class Warframe. Then… do you have an actual name?''

''Tenno aren't allowed to reveal their names to others, not even Tenno unless… unless they're intimate with each other.'' John felt odd when she mentioned the last part.

''Uh… I don't know why you just mentioned that, but okay.'' It took a few moments for Mesa to realize what had slipped out of her mind and what John heard. She stopped and imitated a gesture as if she was trying to keep her mouth closed, that is, after she let out a gasp.

''Sorry, I didn't want to say that.'' She apologized to the Lieutenant, who didn't pay attention to it.

''It's fine, it's fine. I don't think I'll ever try to get that close just to get to know your name.'' John smirked, though Mesa could know that he was making fun of Tenno traditions through his slightly amused tone. Regardless, she kept leading onwards and a few silent moments later, they reached their point. Mesa prepared her sniper rifle and assumed a sitting position. John did the same and picked up his Battle Rifle, aiming it at the same target Mesa was aiming at. To increase maximum combat efficiency, Mesa and Sandman had made a visor link which uses neural implants to link the visors of soldiers together, letting them see who they are targeting at.

''All Marines, fire.'' John gave the signal and Mesa fired her rifle first, lowering the Elite's shields and John immediately finished it off with two bursts from his rifle. The rest of the platoon had effectively dispatched over seventy percent of the bridge crew with their first three bursts and the rest fell in disarray, letting the Marines finish them off even faster. Unfortunately for the strike team, one of the Grunts had alerted the rest of the crew that they have invaders, so the team's hackers had to work fast.

''Tokugawa, get on that console and hack the data. We'll keep you covered!'' John shouted for the squad's hacker who immediately ran to the central command terminal and linked his datapad with the control console thus beginning his data mining.

''I need ten minutes, Sir.''

John acknowledged the Marine's schedule and walked up to a pylon that offered perfect cover in the event the Covenant comes looking into the bridge through the main entrance. At least for one invading wave.

About six minutes later, the Covenant blew the door open and let their plasma weapons burn through whatever Human body it could touch. The Covenant scored a few positive hits and killed several Marines from the squad. Out of 13 Marines, 4 were hit instantly and died on the spot. The attacking Covenant footsoldiers received brutal and stiff resistance from the Marines and on the first few salvos, half of the Covenant platoon fell to gunfire from shotguns, assault rifles and battle rifles as well as the occasional frag grenade being thrown their way.

''Oh crap, they're really tougher than in the simulations.'' John noted the strength and relentlessness of the Covenant when trying to retake a position that they rightfully own.

''Just don't stick your head out too much and you'll be fine, Sir.'' The Staff Sergeant suggested while pumping his shotgun and releasing 8 gauge pellets into Covenant soldiers trying to breach through the doors. John took a quick look at Mesa, who was at the other side of the room, sniping with her rifle and picking off the Covenant one-by-one. John finally understood how her rifle loaded – it was based on old breech-loading designs and he was impressed at the effectiveness of such an old type of weapon in the Tenno arsenal.

After two additional minutes an Elite with a Concussion Rifle charged through the doors, blasting the Marines off their feet with it and then lowering Mesa's shielding and firing on her with his plasma pistol. Mesa was pretty sure her Warframe was about to melt from the heat and that she was about to lose all of her armor and die, however she felt a sudden break in the storm of plasma bolts and noticed that Lieutenant Sandman had ran in front of her with his back and broken visor that depolarized and revealed his face filled with shock and his nose, as well as mouth bleeding. She began filling herself with the Warframe's energy, which coursed through her veins now. Under the suit, these veins illuminated all blue, and then red to match her preferred energy color. She stood up, letting the wounded Lieutenant fall on the ground, and she made her Regulator pistols slide from beneath her wrists into her hands and, with immense focus and her extremely high processing and movement capabilities, she performed her ultimate ability – Peacemaker. She began wiping out the Covenant that tried to enter the room, wave by wave they all fell when they entered the Peacemaker's line of sight and there was nothing the Covenant could do about it. Moments later, the Covenant ran out of footsoldiers and only the Grunts were left. Disorganized, these little alien bastards ran away, letting the squad recover from the attack.

Meanwhile, Mesa fell out of her Peacemaker mode, sliding the Regulator pistols back beneath her wrists, and then kneeling next to her fallen comrade who had literally taken a bullet for her. In this case not really a bullet, more like a few plasma bolts. Lucky for him, his armor's heat-resistant layer took most of the impact but some plasma shots went through the armor's weaker layers, namely the undersuit, and burned his skin tissue as well as damaged internal organs causing severe bleeding. His lungs were burned too, not letting him take a deep breath.

''Marines! Report!'' The Staff Sergeant stood up, looking at the bodies of the Covenant and Marines, hoping that they weren't the only survivors.

''Sergeant, we just lost ten men and one is severely wounded.'' The Marine stood up from the ground and looked at the Lieutenant who was barely even breathing. Mesa took the Lieutenant's helmet off of him, hoping that maybe he could breathe easier, but it didn't help.

''He needs assistance with breathing. Someone needs to give him artificial respiration, at least for a short duration.'' The Staff Sergeant looked at Mesa, hinting that she must show medical care for the Lieutenant. She hesitantly agreed.

''You two should guard the doors, I don't want anyone sneaking in here again.'' Mesa said, but it wasn't because she was worried of another attack, but because she didn't want too many people see her real face.

John wasn't seeing all that well, his decreased breath intake was causing problems with his vision and he couldn't hear properly either, so he couldn't really tell what was going on or if he will be saved, but he did know a few things. He didn't regret signing up in the UNSC to do some good in order to help Humanity and he didn't regret meeting Tenno too, or showing off his skills in the Lunar Naval Academy, gaining his proficiency of Command and Assault. He even has a knack for fighter piloting. While he was deep in thought, he barely even noticed his vision and hearing returning to normal as he saw a young girl giving him mouth-to-mouth breathing. Upon closer inspection, he saw her wearing the Mesa Warframe and observed her facial features. She had the face of a sixteen year old girl with dark brown, long hair tied in a ponytail and odd, dark red eyes with blood vessels entering in the center of each eye as well as four unusual lines going vertically across her eyes, two per eye. When Mesa moved back, seeing if he's back awake, he suddenly felt a surge of pain overpower him across his body and he began coughing because of burns to his lungs, but at least for now, he could breathe. After he stopped coughing, he was able to take a deep breath, but not able to hold it for longer than a second because that induced more coughing. Mesa's actions had saved him.

''Ah, you're alive, Lieutenant!'' She sounded happy to see that he's alive, and she even looked quite happy too. Suddenly, she felt John's hand on her cheek and she could see his lips depart one another in an indication that he wants to say something, but she put her index finger right on them.

''Shh. Don't speak, Lieutenant. You've lost quite a lot of blood and we need to get you out of here.'' Mesa proceeded to look at her own armor and found herself clutching her left hip where she was bleeding. She was hurt as well. Mesa took the Lieutenant's hand and moved it aside, letting her put on her helmet that she put on his chest. After sealing her suit again, she proceeded to help the Lieutenant up to his feet and help him walk away from here.

''Sergeant, what's our exfil route?'' Mesa looked at the Sergeant.

''Ma'am, we're going to have to head down to the lower deck hangar where First squad is at and we're going to have to get those Spartans up here. Also, where's the other Tenno?'' The Sergeant noticed that Ember was missing, but Ember was right next to them all along.

''Right here, Sergeant.'' She announced her presence and walked out of the shadows, with her Warframe having visible scars and damage marks. ''I was trying to hold off most of them on the outside, but I had to get in with you guys to prevent whatever happened to the Lieutenant.'' Ember hung her head down in shame, acknowledging that what the Lieutenant is suffering right now is her fault. She came up on his other side, so to help Mesa carry him over. While the two were dealing with the Lieutenant, the Sergeant had called Alice-130 for help. It took her almost no time at all to get up to the upper decks. The Marine had given her a datapad full of information to hold on to, knowing that it'll be safe in the hands of a SPARTAN rather than in the hands of a Marine. After strapping the datapad safely on her belt, Alice led the way for this nearly annihilated group to reach First squad and the dropships. They encountered some mild resistance from organized Jackal grounds on the way, but that didn't stop them. They kept going forward until they reached the dropships and with the information were clear to leave. After they left the battlecruiser inside the two dropships, they were almost instantly tailed by half a dozen of Seraph starfighters. They tried to dodge their fire, tried to shake them off of their tail but Seraphs were just far too maneuverable than a dropship. They hoped to kick in the afterburner and reach the Spirit of Fire which was flying close by to pick up the teams, but the Seraphs had damaged one Pelican's thrusters, denying it the option of an afterburner.

''Anyone called the cavalry? Hoorah!'' Storm announced that he was around here and he flew by, leaving missiles behind him that, upon making contact with the hulls of Seraph starfighters, exploded and gutted these starfighters with them, clearing the Pelicans of any danger. ''Eat that, Covie bastards! Woo-hoo!'' Storm flew back into the fight that was nearly at an end, with Sargasso being glassed already as the Thirtieth Fleet couldn't get to the planet in time.

The battle was a military defeat for the UNSC as it was forced to retreat soon after, but it was also a strategic victory as they had extracted a lot of valuable information and they found out the location of every single Covenant colony that is close to UNSC space and provides a huge material boost to any Covenant fleet nearby.

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><p><strong>One month later.<strong>  
>Lieutenant Sandman had been treating his plasma burns for a month, undergoing dermal regeneration several times a week, but luckily for him, he wasn't all alone in the room. Mesa was giving him company as she was hurt during the battle too, and it wasn't a light wound at all. While they were stuck with each other in the same room, they had a lot of talks, they got to know each other considerably closer.<p>

Mesa told him about her training, that she didn't know any other life besides the one she had in the Tenno Armed Forces. She was getting pretty close to him at some point, but as a close friend, not as a lover. She was kind of afraid of the idea of falling in love with someone.

John told her about Mars, about his boot camp training and then eventual Lunar Naval Academy graduation in an accelerated training course which wasn't designed to have officers that have extremely high capabilities in Command and Assault specialties.

John could feel some special bond growing with Mesa, but he didn't try to reveal his feelings to her. Not yet anyway. He had his duty placed at the top of his priorities and fraternization aboard the Admiral's ships was strictly forbidden to keep the crews at a hundred percent efficiency, but there was definitely something special between them.

While John was recovering from his wounds, Admiral Cutter had been doing a little digging on his profile records within UEG civilian databases and found out that there's an obvious connection to his lineage, however he couldn't really point at how old that connection is, or if it's an actual, straight bloodline, but it really peaked his interest and he had Serina look into it deeper and bring him any new data she can find in UNSC databases, additional UEG databases and ONI databases.

ONI databases were cracked first, revealing that Sandman was subjected to genetic experimentation at an extremely young age. His genes were modified so that they respond far better to augmentations, accepting them quite a bit easier as well having the ability to reach greater physical and mental prowess with these augmentations, though maybe that was ONI's propaganda as they were known to send lies like these all around, but the fact that there were a few other names in the list of those who were experimented upon was reason enough to alert Cutter. He wanted to know more, but there were limitations to everything and Cutter had to prepare for another battle that would decide the fate of the Thirtieth Fleet.

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><p><strong>Well, there's the second chapter. Hope you liked it and as always, remember to share, review, followfavorite the story to show your support and care to the author (me). Thanks for reading and have a nice day!**


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